Two Weeks
by SteampunkSherlock
Summary: What happens to Kevin Sawyer and the Mainframers after the events of The Virtual Man...


_Author's Note_

 _Two Weeks_ is set immediately after the conclusion of _The Virtual Man_. It explains Kevin Sawyer's two week (cycle) stay in Mainframe before he returned to the physical universe. It is part of a series titled _The Virtual Man Adventures_ which deals primarily with science fiction plots.

Disclaimer:

I don't own ReBoot. This is just for fun.

 **Two Weeks**

 _Day Two_

The Guardians had left with Megabyte less than a second before. Bob, Enzo, and the user known as Kevin Sawyer, sat together at the bar of Dot's Diner waiting for Cecil to come take their orders. Bob knew they were all in for a long wait.

Kevin was still beside himself. When they first entered the establishment they had been greeted by a talking computer monitor with arms who spoke in a French accent.

"Wait at zee bar," he said, as he waved the three patrons away dismissively. Cecil caught Kevin's amazed stare and made a rude comment toward the scientist. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it is rude to stare?"

Taken aback, Kevin turned away and sat down on a stool next to Bob. "Who was that?" he asked.

"That would be the lowest form of life in Mainframe," said Bob. "Otherwise known as Cecil."

Kevin took it that Bob was being sarcastic and turned to see Cecil start polishing a set of glasses. "Isn't he going to take our order?" asked Kevin. "I'm starving."

"We'd probably have a better chance at Al's," said Enzo.

"Where's that?" Kevin asked.

"Never mind," Bob said. "I'll get us some service."Bob got up and walked toward Cecil. The two exchanged a few whispered statements, with Cecil looking to Kevin then back to Bob every so often. A look of urgency overcame Cecil's face and he quickly followed Bob over to where they sat.

"Please, forgive my earlier comment, monsieur," said Cecil, directing his apology toward Kevin. "I did not know Mademoiselle Matrix had a business client visiting our establishment this second."

Kevin looked to Bob, who was standing slightly behind Cecil. He winked. Happily, Sawyer played along.

"Yes, well, I suppose I can overlook this slight infraction seeing as how Miss Matrix's reputation for running the best diner in the system is virtually universal."

"Oui, monsieur. The diner is our pride and joy. Please, allow me to take your order. On the house, of course."

Enzo was smiling widely, trying hard not to laugh. Kevin turned to the boy for suggestions and then ordered three energy shakes.

"Three energy shakes coming up," said the waiter.

Moments later they got their drinks and Bob and Enzo started immediately sipping through their straws. Kevin simply picked up his cup, opened the top, and stared into the bluish liquid.

"What are you waiting for, Kevin?" asked Enzo.

"What is this?" he asked.

"It's an energy shake. Drink it, it's good," said Bob.

Tentatively, Kevin drew a sip from the straw and tasted the shake. It was nothing like what he expected. Kevin thought it would be something like a milk shake from his own reality, but it was the exact opposite. There was no word for the taste, if he could indeed say it had one. When the liquid touched his tongue it almost immediately condensed into a gas, and he felt the sensation of light static drift past is esophagus and down his throat. He took another sip, this one longer, and decided immediately that energy shakes were to his liking. He eagerly downed more.

"Told you you'd like them," Bob said.

"Extraordinary," said Kevin. "What is it made of? An electron plasma of some kind?"

"Its pure energy," said Bob. "It's what sprites consume in order to survive."

"What do users usually eat?" Enzo asked.

"Our food is composed of organic molecules. We're aren't energy-based lifeforms like you. We're carbon-based."

Bob stared at Kevin as if in disbelief. "Carbon-based? That's impossible."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Carbon materials can't organize in complex enough patterns for life to form anywhere," Bob said. "It only exists in atomic form."

From this statement, Kevin deduced two things. In this reality life could evolve in any number of ways. Since cyber-beings like Bob and Enzo were made of energy and not matter, the laws of evolution were different. That accounted for binomes, numerals, and the other forms of life he had seen. Secondly, and this was mere speculation, Mainframe and the Net-reality was the equivalent of a holographic universe.

"That's not true of everywhere," said Kevin. "The universe that exists outside yours is filled with beings that are made from carbon. I'm one of them."

"But I don't understand how," Bob said.

"Maybe I can clarify," said Kevin. "One of the principles of my being here is the conversion of matter to energy. The device I used to get here exploits this property of matter. What I'm trying to say is that it's possible for carbon-based lifeforms like myself to be converted into energy-based lifeforms."

"So is this what you look like when you're there?" asked Enzo.

"More or less," Kevin said. He recalled earlier how he had been startled by his reflection upon awakening in the infirmary. "We're not that different. Aside from skin and hair color Sprites and Users look almost alike."

It was at this point that Bob looked around the diner at the other customers. None of them were close enough to hear their conversation, but still, a little discretion would not hurt.

"We need to be more careful," said Bob. "We can't have word getting around that you're a User."

"You're probably right," said Kevin. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a cover story of some kind."

Bob thought to himself. "We could say you're a viral expert from the Supercomputer."

"But Kevin doesn't have an icon with the Guardian seal," said Enzo. "Trust me, people around here will notice. Not to mention he doesn't have the uniform."

"I could be a civilian consultant," said Kevin. "You do have civilian consultants, right?"

"A few," said Bob.

"Ok, so I'm a civilian consultant for the Guardians on viruses. Seems pretty plausible."

Kevin turned around and looked out the windows at the beautiful city. Mainframe would rival any major metropolis in his own world. It reminded him of a science fiction movie: flying cars, tall buildings of fantastic design, perfect weather, and no cycle of day and night.

"Does it ever get dark around here?" asked Kevin.

"What do you mean?" asked Enzo.

"I mean does Mainframe have cycles of night and day?" This question earned the scientist a look of puzzlement from both sprites.

"You mean like in Game Cubes?" Bob asked. "Not really. The system goes into hibernation once every few cycles and sometimes it shuts down altogether."

Kevin understood. Mainframe was not a planet like Earth. It did not spin about its own axis and revolve around a sun. That also explained the weather. The system was static; it did not move as Earth did therefore there were no forces to generate weather systems. Another thing Kevin noticed was the fact that he had not slept since his arrival. How long had he been here? It felt like at least a day or two. He could not be certain since habits of sleep usually accompanied the human perception of the passage of days.

"Do sprites sleep?" asked Kevin. He got yet another confused look from his companions. "Just humor me."

"Of course we sleep," said Enzo. "Don't you?"

"Yes, but humans usually require eight hours of sleep in a single twenty-four hour period."

"Eight hours!" exclaimed Bob.

At first Kevin did not know what the confusion was about then he remembered how a year in cyberspace was equivalent to an hour in real time. Sawyer tried to clear things up by describing the nature of the 24-hour day and how Users based their activities on the rising and the setting of the sun. Needless to say, it was difficult to get across.

"So you're saying Users… _humans_ measure time based on the second?" asked Bob.

"That's right," Kevin affirmed.

"Dude, that means your system must be really slow," Enzo said.

"Compared to Mainframe, it is slow. But we don't notice. Time is a relative thing."

They continued their conversation until they finished their energy shakes. Kevin was able to grasp the finer points of time in the cyberverse and the sleeping habits of sprites and binomes. Mainframe was locked in perpetual day; however, sprites did need to sleep a certain amount of time like humans did and for the same reason. Sprites expended energy and needed time to rest and recharge. The only difference was one of duration. Sprites did not require as much sleep a human typically would. Theoretically, a sprite could go an unlimited amount of time without sleep, but it would lead to file fragmentation. Essentially, a sprite's sleeping was equivalent to a defrag.

A system could shut down or go into stand by mode (what Bob referred to as hibernation) and sprites would still be active. Their sleeping habits were determined solely by their internal clocks.

"So what do you want to do now?" asked Enzo of Kevin.

"I'd like to see more of the city if that's all right," replied Sawyer.

Unfortunately, their camaraderie was shattered by the shrill alarm of an incoming game.

"WARNING: INCOMING GAME," droned the automated voice of the system. "WARNING: INCOMING GAME." The skies darkened and a hole in the sky began to form.

"Looks like it's coming down in G-Prime," said Bob. He ordered Glitch to open a channel to Matrix. The renegade was already en route.

"I'll see you there, Bob," said Matrix.

"Bob, can I come? Please?" Enzo pleaded.

"Sorry, Enzo, but you know what Dot would say," Bob said. "I need you to stay here with Kevin. He's still a stranger, and he needs a guide. I'll be back."

The Guardian rushed out the door and jumped into the driver's seat of his red 262 convertible. Within nanoseconds he was a shrinking dot against the skyline.

Dot came out of her office and rounded the upper level of the War Room until she came to face the main vidwindow.

"Status," she demanded.

Specky replied, "The Game is coming down in G-Prime. Matrix and Bob are on their way to intercept."

"Have Hack and Slash been dispatched with the game code sampler?" she asked.

Phong approached. "I had them on standby as soon as we detected the Game," said the old sprite. "They will meet Bob and Matrix at the landing site."

"Good," she said. "Where's Enzo?"

"He was with Bob and Dr. Sawyer."

Dot frowned. She was not sure which prospect she disliked more: Enzo going into a Game with Bob or staying with Kevin Sawyer. She was not particularly fond of either situation. Her thoughts were cut short though when the Game finally completed its landing in G-Prime.

"Ma'am," said a CPU binome, "we have visual confirmation of Bob and Matrix at the landing site. Hack and Slash are there as well."

"So sign of Enzo or Sawyer?" asked Dot.

The troop shook his head.

 _At least Enzo's out of danger_ , Dot thought.

"Crash!" said Enzo. "I always get left out of the fun stuff."

"Are you serious?" asked Sawyer. "I've only been in one Game and if that was any indication, Games are definitely no place for a kid your age."

"Aww. You sound like my sister, now."

"Your sister is only looking out for you," said Sawyer. "It's what older siblings do."

"Let me guess. You're an older sibling?"

"No, I'm a younger sibling. So I know exactly where you're coming from."

They heard an approaching zip-board and they turned their gaze upwards to see AndrAIa coming in for a landing.

"Hi, boys," said the Game Sprite as she stepped off her zip-board.

"Hi, AndrAIa," said Enzo. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you in the Game with Matrix?"

"Matrix asked me to keep an eye on you to make sure you didn't try to follow him inside."

Enzo huffed. "Figures." He looked up a Kevin. "Which one did you have, brother or sister?"

"Brother," he replied solemnly. "I think their worse."

"What are you talking about?" asked AndrAIa.

"Enzo here is feeling neglected," Sawyer explained.

"I think we can help with that," AndrAIa said cheerfully. "What'd ya say to some circuit racing, little sparky?"

Almost instantly, the boy's disappointment turned to excitement. "How about it, Kevin? It'll be alphanumeric!"

"Circuit racing?" asked Kevin. "Is that like NASCAR?"

Mouse entered the War Room with hopes of talking with Dot. She was in her office. Apparently she had been in there ever since the Game landed. Mouse found the door locked. Dot must have been in one of her moods. She never locked the door to her office, and she always waited in the War Room when a Game Cube was in town. Mouse mentally prepared herself for whatever emotional state Dot was in and rang the entry chime. At first there was no answer. Mouse pressed the button for the chime again, and finally she heard Dot call for her to enter.

The door parted and Mouse walked inside. Dot's entire face was obscured by vidwindows. She did not seem to pay Mouse any mind at all.

"Dot?" Mouse said. There was no reply. After a few nanoseconds of being ignored, Mouse leaned over the desk and moved one of the vidwindows out of the way. This grabbed Dot's attention.

"I was reading that," the said. She was clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

"It was the only way to get you to pay attention."

"I haven't got time to talk now, Mouse," Dot said, turning her attention to the assortment of vidwindows around her.

"Well then make time," Mouse said as she sat on the desk's edge, "because I'm not leaving until we have a little heart-to-heart."

Dot sighed and pushed her chair back from the desk, removed her glasses, and gave Mouse her full attention. "Alright, Mouse, what do you want?"

Mouse frowned. "First of all stop being so dang rude. It's not like the Net is gonna crash while we sit here and chat a few microseconds."

"I'm sorry," Dot said. Her tone made it clear she was not. It was cold and hard, and Mouse knew she really wanted to be alone. But what Dot wanted and what she needed were two different things. Right now she needed a friend.

"What are you doin' in here, sugah?" Mouse asked gently.

"I was working."

"That's not what I mean. There's a Game Cube out there. Aren't you the least bit concerned?"

"Bob and Matrix are inside, Enzo isn't, and Hack and Slash are collecting a sample of the Cube's code. There's nothing to worry about."

"A Game Cube is something to worry about, even a little," Mouse said.

This time Dot frowned. "What did you really come to talk to me about, Mouse?"

"What do you think?" asked the hacker. "You haven't spoken a statement to Bob since Megabyte was taken away."

"There's nothing left to say," said Dot.

"Honey, there's more to say between you two than can ever be said."

"I really don't want to get into this, Mouse," Dot said.

"If I don't make you talk about this then you never will. I know how stubborn you can be."

"Then I'll be stubborn!" Dot shouted.

"You'll be alone is what you'll be if you don't wake up," Mouse shouted back.

Several nanoseconds of silence followed. Mouse knew Dot was hurt by her words, not so much by her unchanged expression but by the long pause without a rebuttal. When at last she responded, it was in a quiet, calm voice.

"I take it you're about to leave Mainframe with Ray?" she asked.

Mouse signed and nodded. "Yea. We're headin' out in a in a few milliseconds. I was hoping to wait until Bob and Matrix won the Game so we could say all our goodbyes."

"Bob would be sorry to see you leave without saying goodbye first," Dot said. Mouse noticed she had to force the name 'Bob' out as if it were cutting her throat just to utter it. "And so would I."

 _Finally, some warmth,_ thought Mouse. "I'm gonna miss this place," Mouse said. "I've had some of the best times here."

"And some of the worst," Dot said cynically.

Mouse nodded. "And some of the worst, but we always came through."

Dot stared at the floor. "Yea. Always."

Mouse got up and placed a reassuring hand on Dot's shoulder. "You've made it through the worst life can throw at you, honey. Don't give up now."

Dot shook her head. "I've felt so empty for a long time, now, Mouse. And just when I thought I could hope again I landed flat on my face."

"You kept hope alive here in Mainframe through Megabyte and through Daemon. I know life's been tough this last hour. With everything that's happened to us and this system I can't blame you for being depressed. But you can't let it run your life."

"I won't," Dot said quickly. "And you don't have to worry. I'll be fine."

Her defenses were back up. Every time, it seemed to Mouse, that she was about to get through to Dot, she would put up this barrier and close off anyone trying to help her. Was it stubbornness or pride? Mouse figured it was probably a combination of both. In any case, Mouse knew when to quit, and she took her cue.

Dot hugged Mouse tenderly. She truly was sad to see her leave, but she was a free spirit, and she had been in Mainframe for over an hour. Ray was a good catch for her. He was just as restless as her. They would have a great time traveling together.

 _All good things must come to an end_ , Dot heard her mind say.

Kevin was elated. He felt like a kid again. He, AndrAIa, and Enzo were exiting the circuit racing arena.

"Looks like Bob and Matrix are still in the Game," AndrAIa observed.

"Is that bad?" asked Kevin.

"It doesn't really mean anything. All Games are different. Some take longer than others."

Enzo turned to Kevin. "So, how did you like circuit racing?"

The only words Kevin could think of were adolescent, but extremely accurate. "It was _freaking awesome_."

For the last half-hour (at least in human terms) he had been racing around the surface of a floating cube, about five hundred cubic feet in volume, chasing after a fleeing ball while driving a go-cart equipped with suction cups instead of wheels. Some of the cube's panels were constructed to flip over and allowed entry into the interior. The objective of the Game was to capture the roaming ball using the go-cart. The physics behind such a complex structure alone would dazzle any engineer, and while Sawyer would ponder such questions later, right now he was simply dazzled.

"Sounds like somebody's been missing out," AndrAIa commented.

"You can say that again," Kevin said. "We don't have anything that compares to that. I feel like a kid who's just taken his first trip to an amusement park."

"What kinds of rides do you have?" Enzo asked.

"Let's just say we don't have anything that compares. We haven't overcome gravity in the sense that we can't control it so as to make objects weightless."

"Major bummer, dude," Enzo said.

"So that means you don't even have zip-boards," AndrAIa said.

"Much less flying cars," said Sawyer. "I have to admit, your reality is much more impressive than mine."

"You may be just saying that because you've never been here before," said AndrAIa.

"Maybe," Kevin said. "So where to next?"

The ship rocked with the detonation of the torpedo against their shields. Bob was trying to keep their cruiser balanced, but power was draining from the artificial gravity system.

"Hack, Slash, I need more power to helm control," Bob yelled into the microphone protruding from his console.

"What did he say?" The Guardian heard Slash through the intercom.

"He said he needs more power!" said Hack.

"But we don't got any more power."

The two robots were in the engine room of the star cruiser. In real life it was the last place they needed to be, but they rebooted into mechanics when the game started so it was not like they had much of a choice.

"We can't do it, Bob!" yelled Hack through the intercom. "We don't got the power!"

"Great," Bob muttered under his breath.

They were in a game called _Nova Chaser_. When they rebooted, they had been on a space station in orbit around a blue planet. Then they were given a small, heavily-armed spacecraft. Their attire was utilitarian, but somewhat stylish. It had a steampunk feel to it: Bob wore tan combat pants a cotton shirt and a black leather vest. Matrix wore a brown leather bomber jacket, white t-shirt, and tattered jeans.

The User's objective was to destroy certain space outposts by triggering supernovas. It was Bob and Matrix's job to stop him. They had arrived in the Game on the first level and had chased the User all the way to level five, making faster-than-light jumps across parsecs of interstellar space.

He managed to destroy one solar system, Bob and Matrix's craft sustaining light damage from the resulting nuclear shockwave. Luckily, they were able to thwart his next three attempts. Now they were closing in.

Sparks flew from above, a short circuit. They were being bombarded with energy beams. Bob hit the thrusters and executed a sharp right turn. Matrix was on the weapons. On his screen he maneuvered the gun turret on the ship's ballast. He fired. Green particle beams streaked across the empty black void and struck against the User's ship with vengeful retaliation. His shields glimmered as they absorbed the impact. He veered off, wounded.

"I took out his interstellar drive with that last one," Matrix said. He's confined to the immediate sector until he makes repairs."

"Speaking of repairs, we're looking pretty rough ourselves."

"Hmph. Whad'ya expect with the help we've got?"

Hack said over the intercom: "Bob, hey Bob…Is this thing on?"

Bob said into the mike, "What is it, Hack? We're kind of busy up here."

"Those last few hits really did a number on the engine. Slash is working on it, but…"

A loud bang, followed by a series of electrical noises issued through the intercom. "Uh…we wouldn't happen to have a medic on board would we?" asked Hack.

Bob clicked off the intercom. "We may be in a little trouble, here."

"It gets worse," Matrix said. "The shields are almost gone. Another hit and we're finished. And the User's coming around for another pass." Matrix put the User's trajectory on the holographic display in front of them.

"Main propulsion is out. We only have thrusters," Bob said.

The Guardian saw on the tactical display they were in the vicinity of a white dwarf star.

"We still have the interstellar drive, right?" asked Bob.

"Yea," Matrix said. "But we can't use it to maneuver. It's too sensitive."

"That's not what I'm thinking. We have a few starburst warheads, just like the User, right?"

"Yea," said Matrix. The renegade turned to the holoscreen and saw the white dwarf. "Bob, you're not thinking about—" Matrix turned to see Bob's seat empty. He was marching down the corridor toward the ladder which led to the lower decks.

"Oh, boy."

Bob made it to the lower deck and ran toward the armory near the stern of the ship. The star cruiser was equipped with a limited number of torpedoes. They were stored in horizontal lockers along the left and right walls. Robotic arms moved along the lockers and loaded the torpedoes into their tubes at the front of the room. Some lockers, six to be precise, were labeled red. These were the starburst warheads, the devices capable of causing a supernova.

First, he got on the intercom and told Matrix to set a course for the white dwarf.

"He'll overtake us before we get there. We only have thrusters."

"If this works we'll be able to make a jump out of the system before the star blows," Bob said. "He'll delete in the explosion, but we need to get him closer to the star."

"Ok, we're on our way," Matrix said. "But the User's closing. I don't know how long I can fend him off."

Bob opened the locker for one of the starburst warheads. The sleek black tube came out on a mechanical bed. Bob opened a panel and entered an arming code implanted in his brain by the Game Reality. The warhead was armed. A robot arm came and grabbed the torpedo, lifting it off its bed and taking it over to the tube where it was primed and loaded into the forward section, ready to fire.

Bob returned to the bridge and took his seat next to Matrix.

"He's coming up on us: 180 mark 45," Matrix said.

"I see him. Her weapons will come to bear any nano."

Hack came on the intercom. "Hey, we've got it fixed!"

"You got what fixed?" asked Bob.

"The engine thing," Slash said. "It's purrin' like a kitten."

Matrix checked the indicator. "They did it. We've got full power."

An alarm sounded. The User was entering weapons range.

Bob hit the accelerator controls. The g-diffusers countered the usual forces of inertia. Without it, their rate of acceleration would have crushed them. As it was, however, they did not feel even the slightest resisting force.

Lucky for them their sudden jolt of acceleration made them avoid another torpedo from the User. At their current speed they would reach the white dwarf in a matter of microseconds. The User was right behind them and still gaining albeit more slowly this time. His ship was faster, but it was larger and not as maneuverable as Bob and Matrix's ship.

The computer's safety systems notified them of the external buildup of radiation.

"I'm plotting the navigation computer to take us to a safe distance as soon as we fire the torpedo," Bob said.

They were getting close enough now so that when the torpedo was fired, the User would not have enough time to turn around and escape the blast range at sub-light speeds.

Suddenly, the ship shuddered. The indicators for their speed began to drop.

"Hack, Slash, what's happening?" asked Bob.

"It wasn't us!" exclaimed the two robots simultaneously.

"It's the User," said Matrix. "He's firing torpedoes, trying to slow us down."

The User was still out of firing range, but that did not stop him from launching torpedoes and detonating them at close proximity to the ship.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" asked Matrix.

"We're already at our maximum sub-light speed," Bob said. He clicked on the intercom. "Can you coax any more speed from the engines?"

"You want more!" shouted Hack. "This is all we've got!"

Another explosion, this one closer than the one before.

"This is gonna be rough," said Bob. He kept them on course. The distance between them and the white dwarf seemed to shrink ever more slowly. The User continued to gain, his torpedoes exploding closer and closer against their shields. The shields began to fail.

Finally they were close enough.

"Matrix, fire the warhead!" Bob ordered.

With the push of a button, a blue ball raced with vicious speed toward the star. Bob manipulated the proper controls and instantly, they were over a billion kilometers away. Moments later, the white dwarf erupted in supernova, the expanding cornea engulfing the User in a raging inferno of radioactive gases and plasmas.

"GAME OVER."

The cube ascended into the sky and the two Guardians watched as it vanished into oblivion.

"Woo, man," said Bob, "that got the energy flowing."

"I'll say," Matrix said. "I wasn't sure if Hack and Slash could keep the engines together long enough."

"Hey, Bob!" called Hack. Both he and Slash were carrying the game code sampler between them. "We did it. We got the code."

"Good job, boys," Bob said. "Now just take it back to the Principal Office and give it to Phong."

"You got it," Hack said.

"Express delivery is our function," Slash stated.

"Yea. Hehe…wait, I thought we were bodyguards," Hack said.

The two robots followed Bob's orders, while maintaining their new, irrelevant conversation, and flew off toward the Principal Office carrying their cargo. Glitch beeped, indicating an incoming transmission. The Guardian opened the channel and was greeted by Dot.

"Hi, Dot," said Bob. "What's up?"

"Mouse is leaving with Ray soon," she said. "You and Matrix had better get over here if you want to say goodbye." Abruptly, she closed the channel before he could respond.

"Come on, Matrix," said Bob. "Mouse is leaving. It's time to say our goodbyes."

Kevin stood on a floating island looking out to the energy sea. It was magnificent in its vastness and vibrancy.

"Wow," he said. "This is wonderful. How far out does the sea extend?"

"All the way to the containment," AndrAIa answered.

As Sawyer continued to admire the colorful energy sea Enzo played with Frisket, whom they had run into after leaving the energy park.

Unexpectedly, Kevin let out a yawn. He was feeling tired.

"Excuse me," he said. "I think all this running around is starting to catch up to me."

"You haven't had any rest since you got here. I'd be tired myself," AndrAIa said.

"And your not?" asked Kevin. "AndrAIa, Enzo mentioned you were a game sprite. What does that mean exactly?"

"Before I came to Mainframe I lived in a Game Cube," she said. "I was compiled there."

"I see," said Kevin. "How did you get out?"

"I met Enzo." Kevin looked at the playing boy. "Not that Enzo. Matrix, when he was little. He was lonely, so I left and came here to be with him."

 _Romantic_ , thought Sawyer. "So Enzo and Matrix are twins?"

"Not really. Enzo is a backup of Matix. A copy."

"You mean sprites can be copied? As in cloned?"

"It happens now and then," said AndrAIa. "It can be a little confusing at first, but people get used to it."

"Wow. Your world is much more complicated than mine. Game Cubes, clones, viruses. What qualifies as a normal day around here?"

AndrAIa laughed lightly. "It's not as chaotic as you might imagine. But what about you, Kevin? You've been learning everything about us, but we hardly know anything about you."

"There's not much to tell. I'm a Midwestern farmboy basically."

"A farmboy? You?"

"Well, maybe a farmboy at heart. My father was an instructor at the Air Force Academy. My family lived in Colorado Springs and that's where I grew up. But I'd spend every summer at my uncle's horse farm in the next county."

"So you're a cowboy, too."

"I've fancied myself a cowboy once or twice," Kevin said amusedly.

"And how did you end up here?" asked AndrAIa.

"I work for my nation's government. I was the director of a special project where we were experimenting with a type of teleportation. They wanted someone to investigate what happened to Daemon so I volunteered." He looked back out over the energy sea. "I'm glad I did."

"GAME OVER."

Sawyer, AndrAIa, and Enzo turned to see the Game Cube lift off and disappear into the sky.

"Looks like Bob and Matrix made it back safe and sound," Kevin said.

AndrAIa's com watch went off. She activated it, bringing it close to her face, and said, "Go ahead."

"AndrAIa, it's Dot. Mouse and Ray are about to leave. They want to say goodbye to everyone before they port out."

"We're on our way. Enzo and Dr. Sawyer are with me. We'll be there in a microsecond."The channel clicked off and the Game Sprite turned to call to Enzo. The boy halted his playing with Frisket and ran over to them. "Enzo, Mouse is leaving," AndrAIa said. "We'd better get going so we can say goodbye."

"Ok," said the boy. He decompressed his zip-board and hopped on. AndrAIa did the same. They waited a few nanos before realizing Sawyer did not have one on his person.

"Got a spare?" asked Kevin.

They looked at one another and shrugged, shaking their heads.

The public transportation system in Mainframe was much more efficient and pleasing than anything Kevin had experienced in his own world. They waited at a bus stop for a few microseconds and then boarded what Kevin took to be the equivalent of an intercity bus. Like most vehicles in Mainframe, the transport flew.

Soon afterwards they entered the Principal Office and made their way to the launch bay where Mouse's ship was docked. When they arrived Bob and Matrix were already there with Phong. The farewells were heartfelt but kept brief for the sake of Mouse's non-sentimental attitude. She hated long goodbyes. She would miss Mainframe and its people, of course. It had been more than a home to her; she had fought for its security and shed her blood and tears for its citizens. A piece of her would always remain here with her adopted family.

Still, she had to leave. It was a natural compulsion. She was a free spirit, and there was so much more outside that was calling to her. Ray was another addition to her world. He shared her love of adventure...and trouble. They would have great fun together. They would return to Mainframe eventually. After all, the place had its appeal.

She gave Bob a peck on the cheek. They went back a long way, back to when Bob was a cadet at the Academy and still wet behind the ears. Somehow he looked much older than he really was, despite the reset of his characteristics. He had come a long way, and she was proud of him.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" asked Bob. She smiled, giving him her "you-know-better-than-that" look. "I thought not."

"Give her a little time, sugah," she reassured.

Bob nodded. "I'll give Dot all the time she needs, Mouse. Thanks for everything."

He felt like he was loosing a friend, but Bob knew how Mouse was. She did not like to be tied down, and she had been in Mainframe a long time.

She received a tender, if not reluctant, hug from Matrix. She remembered his youthful exuberance and optimism. It made her feel old but realized it was only an illusion.

Matrix, struggling to find something to say, said: "You'll be missed. Take care of yourself." Sincerity was never one of Matrix's strong suits, but his voice was heavy with it.

AndrAIa embraced her affectionately. The hacker asked her to hold down the fort while she was away, and AndrAIa smiled, saying she would. Mouse held a great amount of affection for the couple. She had adored them as children, and like Dot she deeply regretted the unfair theft of their childhood to a personal level.

When she came to Enzo, Mouse could not help but smile. She knelt before him and playfully spun his hat by the bill.

"Aw, buck up, sweetie," she said. "It's not like I'll be gone forever."

"I know," he said downtrodden. "It's just things won't be the same without you, Mouse." The boy was obviously sad to see her go.

"Oh, don't worry, honey." She kissed him on the forehead and thought of his future. Here was a young man full of potential his older self had utilized to an almost self-destructive degree. He was the second chance she knew Matrix secretly longed for and hoped desperately they would see that soon.

"You've got a good family," she said. "You'll be just fine. And besides, I'll be back." She gave him a wink and was pleased to see his lips crease into a small smile.

Phong bowed his head as was his custom of showing respect. Indeed, he held a great amount of respect for Mouse and her art. He considered it an art even though in most systems it was considered a felony.

"We are all indebted to you, Mouse," Phong said. "You are always welcome in Mainframe."

Mouse felt an uncommon warmth toward the enigmatic old sprite and she bowed her head to him. She would miss Phong, too, including his quirky anecdotes which confused her and a great many to no end.

"Thank you, old friend," she said softly. _Aw, nuts, now I'm gettin' emotional_.

Sawyer stood like an outcast, and maybe he was to some extent. However he had earned a certain degree of respect from the hacker and she extended her hand. He shook it firmly. Suddenly, Kevin felt a little more at ease in her presence.

Ray offered his goodbyes to everyone next. When all was said and done the two adventurers boarded Ship and prepared to leave. Everyone stepped back a few steps as the engines powered up. There was no uncomfortably loud noise as it did this, nor was there any thrust of jet power like Kevin expected.

The craft levitated off its struts and glided out the open door. Their flight plan was already cleared with the P.O. The ship climbed higher into the sky. Mouse requested departure clearance from the Control Tower. A solid beam of energy sliced through the sky and opened the system to the Net. Mouse angled the nose of her ship toward the open gateway and hit the accelerator.

 _Day 4_

Kevin noticed a change in everyone over the next day or so. Mouse's departure seemed to dampen everybody's spirit. In the meantime, however, he continued his explorations of Mainframe and Net culture. Bob seemed pleased enough to act as a tour guide around Mainframe when he had time.

Through their conversations, Kevin learned the Guardians originated from the Supercomputer, better known to Kevin as the Pentagon mainframe. Their function was to police the Net, maintain order, and defend against threats like viruses and Game Cubes. They were sort of like an uber-FBI and though not exactly omnipotent they were a major force on the Net. Although with the Daemon incident their popularity had recently suffered.

Bob, Kevin found, was a closet intellectual. The Guardian was apparently notorious for his radical ideas in the Supercomputer. Most of his published works were theories on viral behavior and the nature of the Users. It then came as no surprise to Kevin that Bob gave him the cold shoulder more often than not.

His revelation that the Users were not all benevolent, that there in fact was an invisible power struggle going on, all but blew Bob's ideas away. Thus, there was some animosity between them, but for the most part Bob was friendly. The fact Kevin was sent on a mission to destroy Daemon helped his creditability somewhat.

Some of his ideas were pretty accurate, on the other hand. He hypothesized that Games were designed for the entertainment of a specific subgroup of user, most likely their young offspring. Kevin clarified that while kids did play computer games, a large percentage of adult users also played games and that they tended to be much more complex.

That explained the wide range of game themes encountered throughout the Internet systems. It also seemed to explain the diverse range of Game Cubes played in Mainframe. Some were more violent while others were completely childish. Kevin reasoned that Mainframe was probably a family PC.

"So users have families?" Bob asked.

"Yes. The familial unit is the basic building block of our social structure."

"So you are capable of co-processing offspring," Bob said. It was more a statement than a question.

"You sound surprised," said Kevin.

"Not really. It's just that I thought Games were proof that users had children."

"I take it you assumed user children were similar to children of your own reality?"

Bob shrugged and nodded. "Kids like to play. The fact that some games seemed less threatening than others led me to believe there were different cultural factors at work in their design. No one really knows how a Game Cube is created, much less how a User accesses them."

"You sound more like a sociologist than a cop," Kevin said.

Bob smiled to one side, apparently taking it as a compliment.

Later on, Bob was driving him around G-Prime, Mainframe's industrial sector. The 262 began sputtering while in midair, and gradually it became louder and louder until they began to loose altitude. Bob was able to coast the car softly to the ground without incident. Unfortunately, it would not start back up again.

Both Kevin and Bob got out and inspected the engine. It was unlike anything Sawyer had ever seen. It certainly was not an internal combustion system. He doubted very seriously if anyone less than an experienced engineer could make heads or tails of the engine, much less the rest of the components under the hood. Bob ordered Glitch into several tools Kevin had never heard of before and began to poke and prod at the car's bowels.

"How does it do that?" asked Kevin.

"What?" asked Bob as he continued to work.

"Glitch. How does it transform?"

"Glitch is made from fourth generation morphware technology," Bob explained. "He's made of billions of tiny blocks that can rearrange themselves into complex patterns and produce almost any complex or simple machine."

Kevin had heard of such technology in his own reality. Morphware was still being researched, and it was far from anything like Glitch, but the underlying principles must be the same.

Most microprocessors are built for one of two things: execution of a broad set of commands or for enhanced speed. Morphware bridges the gap between computer performance and flexibility; a morphware-based processor could execute many applications quickly by reordering its internal wiring to optimize itself based on software commands. Essentially, a device equipped with morphware could reorder its physical structure to become different electronic devices.

Bob said Glitch was made from tiny blocks. That meant that keytools in general were based on the concept of a magnetologic gate. A magnetologic gate is a type of morphware made from layered magnetic material which can switch polarities, thus representing digital bits, outputs of 1 or 0. The gates could change functionality many times per second, allowing a cell phone to transform into a TV remote or an MP3 player without having to use separate microprocessors.

Glitch was obviously much more than a TV remote. It, or rather he, could turn into different mechanical devices as well as electronic ones. Such complexity must require some sort of nano-robotic technology or…

"I think I found the problem," said Bob. He pulled out a charred node and held it up for inspection.

"What is it?" asked Kevin.

"The turbo lock is differentially charged," said the Guardian.

"I guess it's a trip to the parts store, then?" asked Kevin.

"Later, yea. I think I can fix this one for now though. Maybe at least get us to my apartment."

As Bob began to fiddle with the turbo lock, Kevin started to look around. They had come down in front of a factory complex, and Kevin began to speculate on what they might be manufacturing. He decided to ask.

"That's a processing plant," Bob explained. "Mainframe doesn't manufacture anything, really. It's more of a service economy, providing business solutions for other systems that are more industrialized."

"I see," said Kevin. He did not want to hear details. Economics and business were probably just as boring to him here as they were in his home universe.

"Can I ask you something?" asked Bob.

"Sure."

"What will happen when you go back?"

Kevin had been thinking about that himself. "I guess I'll report my whole experience to the National Security Council," said Kevin. "I'm not sure they'll believe me. The discovery of a parallel reality ranks up there with Copernicus showing the earth isn't the center of the universe. It'll be unbelievable, mind-blowing. They may even try to have me evaluated, send me off to a facility in Maryland or Maine or wherever it is they send government employees who start sounding crazy."

"Would they really do that?"

Kevin shrugged. "I'm just being silly. I'd say they won't believe me simply because the whole thing sounds too fantastical to be true."

"Any more fantastic than a User existing in Mainframe?"

"Good point, but I don't think they'll see it that way."

"Maybe you shouldn't tell them then," Bob said.

Sawyer got the impression Bob was dropping a hint. "You're still not very comfortable with me, are you?"

Bob turned his attention fully to Sawyer. "Accepting who you are and what you are are two different things. You were willing to endanger yourself in order to help me stop Megabyte. You could have been killed, and you could have gone home at any time if you'd wanted to, but you didn't. For that reason I gave you the benefit of the doubt."

"But," Kevin said, posing it as a question.

"But you are a User. You created the Net. You even created me."

"First of all, I didn't create you. Somebody did, obviously, but not me. And secondly, I just wish you'd cut it out with the whole divine presence thing. You people have mixed feelings about the Users. I get that, but that's also the reason I've decided to stay for a while longer. I think that in the future my universe and yours will begin to interact more directly, like how you and I are now. I don't think either of our cultures are ready for it though."

"I agree," Bob said. "People aren't ready for the truth, not yet. So I guess that leaves us back at the original question: what are you going to tell your people?"

Kevin was silent for a nano. Then: "Don't worry. I have a good imagination. I'll think of something."

Bob dropped Kevin off at the Principal Office where living quarters had been arranged for him. Then he headed for home. He passed Baudway Towers on his way and decided to make a slight detour.

"So how is dad doing?" asked Dot.

"His null-suit has been completely disinfected, my child. He is already up and about again."

"I want to be updated on all progress regarding the null treatment," said Dot. It was more an order than a request.

"Of course, my child," said Phong. "I have a suggestion. Dr. Sawyer might be of some help to us in this regard. He is a competent scientist and—"

"No. Absolutely not." Dot's voice was firm; she had already made up her mind regarding Kevin Sawyer.

"But, Dot—" Again, she cut him off.

"I don't care what his qualifications are, Phong. I don't want him to have access to any of our data."

"Surely you do not think he would try to sabotage our work."

"I don't know anything about him, and I don't want to. He's a stranger, and I don't trust him."

"How can you say such a thing? We would very likely be deleted now if it were not for him."

"That's debatable. And this discussion is closed, Phong. I don't want to hear anything else about it."

That was that. Phong turned and left Dot's office a little annoyed at having been treated so harshly, as if he really were as old as he was. Dot was under a lot of stress, but there was no reason for her to run herself into the ground like this.

 _She is trying to remain distracted,_ Phong said to himself. He had tried to get her to rest, but she was stubborn and shrugged him off most of the time. She was working herself to exhaustion, and Phong was worried about her physical, as well as mental, health.

Well, she may have ordered him to keep Kevin away from their sensitive experiments, but she said absolutely nothing about introducing Professor Matrix to Dr. Sawyer.

Dot was tired, and she did not need her aching body to tell her that. She was exhausted beyond words. She laid her reading glasses aside and rubbed her eyes. She had not slept since Megabyte had been taken away and even then sleep had been fitful.

 _You need rest_ , she told herself. Yet she would not let herself claim the respite she craved. It was a self-inflicted punishment that her inner demons would not let her move past. Dot was ashamed; driving herself to the brink of collapse seemed a fitting way to keep her mind occupied and ate up time she might have used for self pity.

 _Don't dwell_ , she thought to herself. _It won't help._

"I can't dwell if I'm asleep," she said aloud.

She closed the active vidwindows surrounding her desk and left. Gamma shift was on duty now, meaning she was officially off duty five milliseconds ago. As she exited the building, she felt the pressure of a migraine begin to build. Dot decompressed her zip-board and set off for her apartment. Her new penthouse apartment was located on the thirty-fifth floor of Baudway Towers' north building. She landed outside the entrance, walked inside, and was stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Bob standing in the lobby.

Had he been waiting for her? He had been trying to talk to her frequently since Mouse left, but she had been too busy. Dot could have made the time, but he was one of the reasons she had been keeping busy. It was not that she didn't want to talk, she just did not know how. Everything between them was such a confused mess she just did not want to deal with it. Apparently ignoring the problem was not going to make it go away.

"Hello, Dot," he said as he approached her.

"Uh…hi, Bob." She stepped to one side, deliberately avoiding his eyes, afraid of what she might see in them. She could not bear to fall any lower in his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping to catch you." Dot tried to get to the elevator, but he kept with her. "Dot, I need to talk to you."

"Not right now, Bob," she said. "I'm really tired."

"You've been in your office practically all cycle. We haven't had a chance to get some things out in the open."

She pressed the call button. How long would she have to endure this? "Bob, please. I'm trying to deal with this in my own way. I need you to be patient."

"Don't you think we should talk?"

"We will," she said, almost forcefully. "But I'm tired, and I can't do this. Not now."

The elevator arrived and the doors opened. She quickly stepped inside and pressed the button for her floor. "I need time. Please understand."

The look on his face was that of a beaten puppy. It was the last thing she saw before the doors closed. She felt the lift begin to climb. Her core-com felt heavy; a deep sorrow now pervaded the enclosed space of the elevator. Why was she being so cowardly? She should be facing this and dealing with it like she did any other problem. Something was holding her back, and she knew what it was but afraid to admit it to herself.

She felt hollow. When she looked at Bob all she felt was embarrassment and shame. There was no love, no warmth. The same went for Phong and Enzo, Matrix and AndrAIa, and everyone else. Where there was once love and happiness she only felt diminutive. Slowly, the tears began to flow. She willed them to stay inside, but they only continued to erupt.

Outside the North Baudway Tower, Bob climbed back into his 262 convertible and thought. Why was Dot being this way? It wasn't like her to run away from a problem.

 _And let's face it: there is a problem between us._ Bob was confused. He needed to think. He decided to drive home.

Bob parked his 262 in the garage. Removing Glitch, Bob placed him in a charger unit sitting on a nearby table. He went over to his toolbox, opened the drawers and pulled out various tools and then popped the hood on his car. He needed to concentrate on something other than Dot. He figured giving her some space for the next few seconds would be the best thing, but it had been almost a full cycle and she was still deliberately avoiding him.

He went to work, the sounds of a socket wrench and other tools echoing through the room. Then Glitch beeped. He was going to ignore it then thought better of it when his keytool beeped again, this time more urgently. Apparently he was trying to tell Bob the call was important.

It was.

It was an incoming transmission from Turbo. Bob accessed the signal and used Glitch to open a vidwindow.

"Bob," said the Prime Guardian, "it's good to see you."

"Likewise, Turbo," Bob said. "What's up?"

"I have a proposition for you," Turbo said. "A new position has opened up here in the Supercomputer, and I think you'd be the perfect sprite for the job."

Bob was intrigued, but doubted he would be truly interested. "What kind of job are we talking about?"

"The new Director of Viral Research," Turbo said.

Bob was speechless for a few moments. Had he heard him correctly?

"I don't know what to say," Bob said.

"You don't have to say anything right now. I know how attached you are to Mainframe."

 _Actually, I've been feeling more detached lately,_ Bob thought to himself. "What exactly would I be doing?"

"Experiments and studies into viral reprogramming," Turbo said.

"Are you serious?" asked Bob.

"I'm always serious, son," the Prime Guardian said affectionately. "I presented your theories to the rest of the Council as part of an initiative to upgrade our viral research division. Seeing as how your experiment was a success you were the best candidate for the Directorship."

"I wouldn't call it a complete success," Bob said. "But I don't understand. You never thought very high of my ideas in the first place. Why all the sudden interest?"

Turbo sighed. "Because you were right about Hexadecimal. If we had deleted her when she first arrived in Mainframe the Net would have been destroyed by Daemon. I like to think I'm sprite enough to admit when I'm wrong and take my medicine when I have to."

"Must have been a bitter pill to swallow," Bob said.

Turbo chuckled heartily. It was nice to know Bob had kept his sense of humor. "It wasn't as bad as you might think." He instantly became serious again. "But seriously, after everything that happened with the Web creature, and then with Megabyte, I felt I owed you."

"We both wear the same badge, Turbo," said Bob. "I know the Protocol, and I don't hold anything against you for following your programming. I guess we just have different ways of following the rules."

"Yea. But you're more flexible than I am which is what we need for this position. Your experiment may have been unorthodox four hours ago, but the council is more open now that they've seen the results. You'll be in charge of your own staff and have access to whatever materials you may need. The job is yours if you want it."

Bob thought deeply for a moment. "When do I have to give you an answer?"

"You have until the end of next cycle," Turbo said. "The council will need a definite yes or no by then."

"And would I be recalled to the Supercomputer to take the position?"

Turbo nodded. "I'm afraid so."

Bob thought for a few more nanos then sighed. This was going to be a tough decision. "Let me get back to you."

Bob worked through the rest of the second fine tuning his car's engine, replacing worn-out hoses and plugs, cleaning the initiator, and installing a new turbo lock. When he was done he was a greasy mess but content with his job. He fired her up and let her run for a bit. There was still that annoying rattle that, despite his best efforts, still plagued the classic 262, but other than that it would hold up at least another minute before it broke down again.

He shut her off and went into his living room. The Guardian plopped down onto the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. He played Turbo's offer through his mind. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. He could perfect his original theories and recreate the phenomenon that turned Hexadecimal into a sprite, he was sure of it! But could he leave Mainframe after being its Guardian for so long?

No, he could not. This was his home. He had fought for it and nearly died to protect it. Then the thought of Dot drifted through his processor, and he wondered if Mainframe was worth it without her. He knew it was not a valid question, but he still regarded it with seriousness. Second by second they were growing apart, and Bob felt her slipping away. He wanted to be with her right now; he wanted to hold her in his arms and make her feel safe again. Then another bitter thought crossed his mind: _Maybe I can't make her feel safe anymore._

He remembered his conversation with Mouse while Megabyte was still in lockup.

"What if I've changed so much that she can't love me?" he had asked her.

His adaptation to life in the Web had left him a different man, but had it affected him so drastically that he was now little more than a complete stranger to her?

Bob shook his head; he was overacting. He was not that different, although his experiences had certainly taken their toll. He was not as carefree as he once was. Fighting for survival tends to have a narrowing effect on one's outlook on life. Perhaps too many things were just overloading his processor. Maybe he was suffering from anxiety, and he reasoned he probably was, but there was a nagging sensation in the back of Bob's brain that kept telling him it was more.

 _Day 7_

Kevin thought he had seen just about everything Mainframe had to offer: binomes, numerals, talking television sets. Despite this he was completely surprised when Phong introduced him to Professor Welman Matrix. At first things were very awkward. Kevin found it very hard to grasp the reality that the null locked inside the glass container of the robotic "suit" was once a whole sprite. He was not just any sprite apparently but Mainframe's most noted scientist.

Welman was equally shocked to learn Kevin was a user, but after the initial introductions were made Kevin and Welman started a conversation on the topic of digitization. This led to discussions every afternoon where they would meet in one of the Principal Office's laboratories and exchange knowledge and ideas.

One such afternoon, Kevin's seventh second in Mainframe, Enzo and Bob walked into the lab to find Professor Matrix and Dr. Sawyer scrawling indecipherable equations on vidwindows placed around the walls of the room. On every vidwindow were lines of mathematics with more symbols than actual numbers.

"Now, look here," Kevin said to Welman. He was pointing to a section of the vidwindow he had been working on. "If you substitute the values in set theta into this field equation you get the charges for all the quarks."

"Yes, I see," said Welman. "And the number of dimensions is rendered inconsequential when incorporated with the de Sitter equation."

"You have a translation engine I can borrow?" asked Enzo. Apparently the two scientists had not noticed their presence until now.

"Enzo!" said Welman. "How are you, son?"

"I'm fine, dad. Bob and I were about to go to the diner for a bite. Wanna come?"

"I am starting to get a little hungry, Welman," said Sawyer. "And we've made pretty good headway."

"What exactly are you trying to do?" asked Bob.

"We are testing a hypothesis of Kevin's," Welman said. "We've been calculating the characteristics of particle groups and deriving known physical constants in n-dimensions."

"Uh, huh," said Bob nodding and looking around at the vidwindows. "So what are you doing?"

Kevin said, "We've just confirmed something I've suspected for a few days. Your universe is a holographic one."

Enzo and Bob looked at them blankly. Kevin tried to explain. In modern physics, scientists have been trying to produce a mathematical theory which would explain all forms of physical phenomena.

"We call it the 'theory of everything' because it would allow us to explain all the laws of physics with just a single formula," said Kevin. "We have had some success with things like M-theory but it's been slow going."

Kevin said that the holographic principle was a fairly new concept that treated the physical universe as a hologram. It posited that the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time that made up the fabric of observable reality were like shadows being cast on a screen by an object existing in higher dimensions. The consequence of this principle meant that the universe was holographic: all the information needed to describe the four-dimensional universe could be "inscribed" on the lower-dimensional planes that projected it.

"It's quite an ingenious theory," said Professor Matrix. "Our universe, the reality of Mainframe and the Net, is a hologram being projected by Kevin's universe, which exists in a higher dimension."

"Exactly," said Kevin. "Think of the face of a cube. Imagine that the universe you live in is the two-dimensional surface of that cube. You would have no concept of a third dimension. So the reality in which you live is just the surface of a much larger, higher-dimensional whole."

Bob scratched his head.

"We're still working on it, but it's really fascinating what we've done so far," said Kevin. He set aside his stylus. "Right now, though, I'm in the mood for an energy shake. Coming Welman?"

"Of course. Will…um…will Matrix and AndrAIa be joining us?"

Enzo said, "They're doing something together in Lost Angles. Something about training."

He tried to steady his labored breathing. With his back pressed against the brick wall of the destroyed building, he eased his way to the edge and peered around the corner.

No sign of her.

With his weapon raised, he crouched low and moved along the wall in the opposite direction and peered around the other side.

Still no sign of his prey.

Cautiously, he moved out into the open, his eyes scanning his surroundings, trying to discern any movement at all. From behind him, a figure moved within the shadows of a partially collapsed structure. Without making a sound, it moved out into the open, as if it would openly engage its enemy.

 _Behind you!_ He turned quickly, pivoting on the ball of his right foot, raising his gun to aim where he had anticipated his target to be. Nothing there.

 _She's playing with you._

He smirked to himself then slowly began to back away with his weapon still ready. He listened around him for any hints of movement. He was all too aware of his opponent's agility, yet there were still always signs to look and listen for.

 _Gravel crunching. Where? Behind you!_ He whipped around and brought Gun level with the target.

In one swift motion, Matrix's gun was knocked from his hands by AndrAIa's trident. He heard it hit the ground some two or three feet away. Now, with the three pronged trident pointed toward his head, he stood at the mercy of his opponent.

"Hand to hand, then?" she asked with a playful grin.

"You know it," replied Matrix in his usual gruff voice.

Matrix swiftly kicked the trident out of her hands, then, pivoting on the ball of his left foot, tried to nail her with a roundhouse kick. She effortlessly dodged it, knowing her own martial arts skills were far superior to those of her lover. When he came at her with a right hook, she deflected the force of his blow past her, flipped him over head first, and sent him crashing into the ground flat on his back.

Triumphantly, AndrAIa pinned Matrix down with her foot on his chest.

"Game over," she said smugly. "Me: one. You: nothing."

"Best two out of three," Matrix said roughly as he moved her foot and sat up. Of course, he hadn't really been trying to hurt her. He tried to convince himself that that was why she had beaten him so easily. It was nearly impossible for Matrix to swallow his pride.

Kneeling beside her lover, AndrAIa said softly, "Don't you think you should give me my prize first?" Grabbing Matrix's vest, she pulled him into a kiss.

When they withdrew, he said with a grin, "Maybe I should let you beat me more often."

"Oh, so you want this to become a regular activity?" she asked.

"I wouldn't mind."

AndrAIa grinned. "I'll bet." She helped Matrix to his feet.

Their little game of hide and search was Matrix's idea. He had suggested it as an alternative to his usual practice of having CPU's fire at him with live ammunition. She accepted if only to keep him from hurting himself. Oddly enough, though, she had really enjoyed it. There was something primal in it, she decided. The chase, the adrenaline. It was the excitement of catching or being caught. It was exhilarating for them both.

They were pretty hungry by now and decided to get a bite at the diner. They were surprised to meet Enzo, Bob, Kevin, and the professor. They all had a booth and were drinking energy shakes. Welman was obviously glad to see them and beckoned them to the stools at the bar across from their booth.

Matrix gave Sawyer a menacing look. Inwardly, Kevin scowled. Matrix had been keeping an eye on him practically since he first arrived. Even during his stay, the renegade had been keeping his distance, watching him from afar whenever he had the chance. It made Kevin uneasy to know he had a shadow. Worse yet, his shadow despised him, he was trigger-happy, and he was armed.

"So I'm guessing the professor knows about where Kevin's from?" asked AndrAIa.

"Phong filled me in," Professor Matrix replied. "It's absolutely amazing how it's accomplished."

"Matter-energy conversion is still highly experimental," Kevin said. "Digitization is in its infancy. We have a long way to go before the technology can be readily available."

"But the science is real," said Welman. "You're being far too modest, Kevin. If only my experiment had gone as well."

"It wasn't your fault, dad," said Matrix.

"I know. I know," said the professor. "Enough of this gloom. This is a celebration. Kevin and I have just made an important discovery."

"Really?" asked AndrAIa.

"Yea," said Enzo. "We just can't understand what it means."

Kevin chuckled. "This is just the beginning. Given enough time we could probably carry out some of the most important experiments in quantum physics in history. Maybe we could solve the quantum measurement problem. I've been thinking of a procedure that could verify the physicality of a probability wave of an electron."

Only Welman seemed enthusiastic.

 _Day 9_

Kevin decided to take one second off from his usual scientific conversations with Professor Matrix and decided to do some more exploring. Leaving his small domicile in the Principal Office, Sawyer made his way outside and began walking toward Baudway. When he got away from the P.O. he heard footsteps behind him. Kevin looked over his shoulder and saw him: Matrix the badass renegade. He had been watching Kevin intermittently throughout his stay, always at a distance and he never directly talked to him.

 _Time for that to change_ , Sawyer told himself. He stopped and turned. "Can I help you?" he asked

The Renegade stopped and glared at him. Apparently, he was not much of a conversationalist.

"Well?" asked Sawyer. He approached the renegade. "I don't know what your deal is, Matrix, but I don't appreciate being constantly stalked."

"You were told you'd be under surveillance," said Matrix. His voice was low and gruff.

"There's a difference between surveillance and harassment. This is the latter."

"Call it whatever you want. I'm not leaving you to walk the city alone."

"I appreciate your concern for my welfare," said Kevin irreverently. "But I don't need a bodyguard."

"I go where you go," Matrix said, his voice rising. "Get used to it."

"What have I done to make you so grouchy, huh?" Kevin came closer. "What have I ever done?"

"You came here," said Matrix.

"There's more to it," said Kevin. "I've been talking with AndrAIa and Bob. I know about what you went through as a kid." Matrix stood as rock solid as a boulder. "You can't blame all of that on me."

"Wrong," yelled the renegade Guardian. "I can blame you and all your kind."

"I suppose you blame us for the restart, too." This made Matrix flinch. Kevin wanted to continue: _Don't forget, Matrix, if it weren't for us there would be no Mainframe, no Net, no nothing._ But he held it in. Matrix was angry, and Kevin was not vindictive. He was here to help, not instigate, even though he would have liked to give Matrix one right across the jaw.

"When are you going to understand that I'm here to help?" said Kevin. "How many times do I have to apologize?"

Kevin turned and resumed his walk to Baudway. He heard Matrix behind him still. He sighed. Maybe he could never apologize enough.

 _Day 10_

"We can counteract the time difference by altering the time frames between the two ends of the portal," Kevin explained.

He and Welman were in the lab once again. They were discussing an idea Kevin had during the previous second.

"If one end is held stationary while the other is accelerated to a velocity close to light, one end will exist in your time reference and the other will exist in mine."

"Interesting method," Welman said. "Naturally since time slows down at speeds close to light, relativity would cause a shift in the perspective of the progression of time. The only problem I foresee will be trying to control the enormous gravitational forces generated within the portal by the acceleration."

"That's where this program will come in," said Kevin. He pointed to several lines on a vidwindow he had written out in a frantic bout of creativity. "We'll have to refine it, obviously, but it looks sound."

He had been studying the schematics for the Gate Command while sitting alone in his room. He'd started to doze off when the idea of a time dilated wormhole popped into his head.

"We'll have to nail down the variables to an extreme degree of accuracy, but if we can calculate the g-forces acting within the portal then the Gate could compensate by adjusting its energy output."

Welman tapped his "chin" and turned the concept over in his mind. "Alright, let's get to work."

 _Day 12_

AndrAIa and Sawyer were exploring the Core Room. Dot almost turned them down, but AndrAIa assured her that he would never leaver her sight. Not to mention Matrix would be there as well. Reluctantly, she allowed it, mainly because she had other things to do.

Kevin was trying to understand what was going on with Dot. Only one other time had been in Dot's office during his stay, and that meeting had not gone pleasantly. She made sure Kevin should not expect any more gratitude than he had already received, and that as long as he was exploring Mainframe he would be under surveillance and accompanied by one of the senior Principal Office staff members.

He had not paid much attention to her set of rules as to her office. Vidwindows were open all around her desk and reports were strewn across its surface. It was in the same condition when he and AndrAIa came to ask for permission to tour the core room.

"Is everything ok with Dot?" asked Kevin.

"She's just a busy sprite," said AndrAIa. "She's really driven."

"I can tell. Tell me, what's the story with her and Bob?"

AndrAIa paused. "They were close. They still are, but they've been through some drama recently."

"So Bob and Dot, they're in love."

"You wouldn't think that, would you?" AndrAIa said.

"Not really. They seem so opposite."

"That's what makes them so good for each other," AndrAIa had said. "Dot lacks levity and Bob's eat up with it. And Bob—"

"Let me guess," Kevin broke in, "Bob's impulsive, whereas Dot is organized to a fault."

"Exactly. I just hope they get their act together." AndrAIa finished her sentence on a sorrowful note.

"Why haven't they?" Kevin asked.

"It's complicated." She said it with a hint of finality, so Kevin pressed no further even though deep down he wanted to know.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the renegade leaning against an arch. His bionic eye was locked on him.

"I keep expecting him to put a bullet in me before I leave," said Kevin.

AndrAIa tried to reassure him. "He's just being overprotective."

"I guess it wouldn't help if I told him you're not my type?"

AndrAIa smiled. "That's not what I meant."

Sawyer's journey was almost over. He had seen most of the system and gotten to know many interesting people. It was almost over.

"I promised Enzo I would play one more game of jet ball with him tomorrow," Kevin said. "Then I have to go home."

"Will you be back?" asked AndrAIa.

"I don't know. I'd like to come back, but I'm not sure how welcome I would be."

"Well, if you ever do decide to come back, know you'll have a few friends here to greet you."

Kevin smiled to one side. "Thanks. I will."

 _Day 14_

"You can't just keep avoiding this, Dot. We need to talk," Bob said.

"No, we don't," she said icily. "Look, we both know this is going nowhere. So why don't we both just forget about this and move on?"

He had cornered her in on of the corridors leading to the Principal Office. Bob had been waiting for two cycles now, and felt he was entitled to some answers. Despite his best efforts, however, Dot was still avoiding him.

"Dot, you're not making any sense. How can we 'just move on' without talking about what happened?"

"What happened was my fault," Dot said. "I'm willing to take responsibility for my actions, and that includes setting up some parameters for us."

"Parameters?" Bob did not like the sound of this. "What kind of parameters?"

"We're just friends, Bob," she said, her voice clear and unwavering. "Friends and nothing more."

Bob just stood there in silence for a nano, and let her words sink in. "Just friends?" he asked.

"That's right. Can you do that for me?"

His answer was immediate. "No. No, I can't. You and I both know that this whole thing is just your way of punishing yourself for what happened. You feel more for me than just friendship, and you know it."

Dot suddenly became enraged. "Where do you get off telling me what I'm feeling?" she shouted.

"Because I know you, Dot," he answered back in equal volume. "You walk around with the weight of the Net on your back and a chip on your shoulder the size of Mainframe. You're the mighty Commander Dot Matrix, fearless leader. But you are afraid of something, Dot. You're afraid to be happy. I know because you can't seem to make up your mind about where we stand."

"There is no 'we' or 'us'. There's only you and me. Separate. Understand? If you can't understand that then maybe you should go."

For the longest time they just stood there, staring at each other, looking for some sign of change in the other. Both knew each other well, and realized that there would be no compromise. It could only end one way.

"Why are you doing this, Dot? For once, why can't you just let go and let yourself be happy?" Bob's voice had lost its edge. Dot was glad. Having him yelling angrily seemed unnatural.

"I can see that we're not going to get anywhere," she said. "I've made my decision. Either you respect my choice, or we can just keep avoiding each other. So what's it going to be?"

There were another few moments of silence. Then Bob said, "Turbo's contacted me about a position in the Supercomputer. It involves testing some of my theories about reprogramming viruses." Dot continued to listen, showing no emotion. "It would require turning over the official Guardian position over to Matrix, so I could go live in the Supercomputer."

"Have you given him a decision yet?" she asked.

"Not yet. I have until the end of next cycle to give him an answer."

Dot nodded. "Then I think you should take him up on it," she said.

Silence again.

"Ok," Bob said at last. "I'll inform Turbo later today."

Dot nodded, turned, and continued down the corridor. She did not even turn to look back at him. What had she done? She had not planned for him to actually leave Mainframe. Now she had deliberately sent him away without thinking. She quickened her pace and rounded a corner. Once she was out of sight she leaned against the wall and cried, her tears hot running down her face. She could go back to him. She could tell him not to leave, that she wanted him to stay. She would not, though. Her pride kept her from admitting she had made a mistake.

 _He needs to leave Mainframe. It's for the best…it's for the …best."_

Her tears continued to flow.

Bob was walking the opposite direction. So this was it. This was goodbye. He had lost her. He felt sick to his stomach; it was cold, nauseas wave that kept building and building. He breathed slowly.

 _This can't be it. This can't be._

Kevin finished locking his orange pressure suit back together. He was all set to return to his own universe. Welman entered the infirmary.

"Ready?" asked Welman.

"I guess." Kevin checked his retrieval module on his wrist. Home was literally just a click away.

"I've been running the program through a couple of simulations," Welman said. "I think it has an excellent chance of working."

"Great," Kevin said.

"It might be beneficial if we waited a few seconds before using it, however. My daughter might not like the idea of stable communication between our worlds."

"She's a capable leader," Kevin said. "I'm sure she understands the importance of science."

"She does," Welman said, "believe me, she does. But I've been away and she's got her own opinions."

"Whatever you think is proper, Welman," said Kevin. He held out his hand. "If it works or not, I'm glad to have met you."

The null-bot shook the hand gleefully. "Likewise."

Everyone gathered in the War Room to bid him farewell. Dot looked upset. Her eyes were puffy as if she had been crying. Bob was standing away from her, deliberately trying to avoid looking in her direction. He could see heartbreak written across their foreheads. Whatever they were going through was taking its toll. He silently wished them the best.

"Will we ever see you again?" Enzo asked.

"I'll come back someday. I promise. Your dad and I have been working on a way to synchronize teleportation between my world and yours. Hopefully the next time I visit time will not have passed to quickly here."

"We look forward to seeing you again, Dr. Sawyer," said Phong.

"Likewise," replied Kevin. Bob walked around and offered his hand. Kevin grasped it, and shook it firmly.

"You're always welcome here, Kevin," Bob said.

There was friendliness in his tone that made Kevin feel truly welcome. He would see them all again in the future.

"I wish you an expedient journey home, Dr. Sawyer," said Phong.

"Thank you. Thank you all."

Everything was said. Sawyer lowered the face shield on his helmet and everyone stepped back. He pressed the face of his retrieval module and he became engulfed in a column of white light. He began to disintegrate and fade away into countless, tiny particles.

Enzo stood transfixed by the sight as he slowly disappeared, wondering what it must feel like. Then the light faded, and he was gone.

At first everyone was dumbfounded. His departure was nothing short of miraculous.

The only one to say anything was Enzo. He captured everyone's emotions with a single word. "Wow."


End file.
